Johan Koren

Representatives of Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Science have demonstrated an international engagement in areas other than World Libraries. Recent issues of WL have neglected to report on this, and so we return to this regular column with an account of activities in the year 2000. Since alumni and students also represent GSLIS, we hereby invite current and former students of the School to write and tell us of their international contacts, presentations at conferences, exchange opportunities and consultancies. We must not neglect to mention here that alumnae Anne Borel (editorial assistant for WL during her student career at GSLIS) is a reference and instructional services librarian at the American University in Paris, and Elizabeth Eastwood is the information manager with Arthritis Care in London.

Dean Prudence Dalrymple attended the Summer Study Programs for Dominican Colleges and Universities for 2000 in Fanjeaux, France. During this seminar, faculty and staff explore the Dominican vision of higher education emerging from the intellectual traditions of the Order of Preachers, particularly as they relate to theology, social justice and the arts. Together they discuss contemporary challenges on their campuses. Dean Dalrymple had an opportunity during this time to visit Anne Borel and the American University in Paris and visited the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and the British Library in London.

Dean Emeritus and former editor of WL, Tze–Chung (Richard) Li continues to visit both Taiwan and China on a regular basis.

Senior Fellow William V. Jackson, former editor and member of the Editorial Board of WL, has long been the faculty member with the most international travel miles. While he acknowledges that his travels in 2000 did not take him as far as the previous year, he did travel abroad six times: three visits to Latin America, two to Paris, and one to Canada. Dr. Jackson's visit to Paris in March contributed to the final touches on his article on the Bibliothèque Nationale de France published in the previous issue of WL. His first trip of the year to Latin America took him to El Salvador in May, by invitation of the Library Association of El Salvador and the American Embassy's Public Affairs Section, to take part in numerous activities, including acting as consultant to the National University on the plans to integrate the University's 13 libraries into a single system. Dr. Jackson traveled to Buenos Aires in June for visits to the National Library, and the Argentine Library of Congress (separate institutions in Argentina), the library school and the University of Buenos Aires. September saw Dr. Jackson once more in South America, this time in Chile, where he visited and spoke at both library schools in the country, one in Valparaíso at the Universidad Playa Ancha, the other in Santiago, at the Universidad Tecnólogica Metropolitana. Dr. Jackson spent altogether 10 days in Chile, visiting several libraries, including the new building of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, whose beautiful campus stands on a bluff with a spectacular view of Valparaíso harbor. Dr. Jackson was back in Paris in November and subsequently visited Vancouver. However, he considers the highlight of the year was October's Bicentennial Symposium at the Library of Congress on "National Libraries of the World: Interpreting the Past, Shaping the Future." In all, representatives from 54 countries took part, but, because LC was not expecting many from Latin America, Dr. Jackson was asked to summarize the history, current problems, and prospects for national libraries in the region.

In May 2000, Assistant Professor Johan Koren presented a paper entitled "The Global Portal: The Public Library as a Partner in Rural Knowledge Cooperatives" at an international conference in British Columbia on Rural Communities and Identities in the Global Millennium. The abstract can be found at www.mala.bc.ca/ruralconf/Jkoren.htm, and the paper itself has been published on ERIC as ED 455054.

As a final note on international activities, with encouragement and participation from several from GSLIS, notably Assistant Dean Elisa Topper, The Midwest Chapter of REFORMA (National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish–Speaking) was officially established on July, 2000 during the American Library Association (ALA) annual meeting. The Chapter had seven (March, April, May, June, July, September, and November) business meetings and a social function in December. The Chapter's membership grew from six people attending the first meeting to twenty–nine registered in the mailing list. Hector Marino, president of the Chapter, reports: "Of interest is to note that during our last two meetings we averaged twelve members per meeting. Also of note is the fact that our members represent a wide variety of library-related fields: public, university, school, and special libraries." The goals of the Chapter are:

• Increase membership, promotion & recruitment of Latino librarians in the Midwest.
• Increase influence with Midwest Partners, including ALA, Illinois Library Association, and neighboring library associations
• Be recognized as the library organization that is the authority on services & programs to Latinos and Spanish–Speaking.

© 2000 Johan Koren

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